Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The Jurassic Park franchise has come a long way since Stephen Spielberg’s ground
–breaking original in 1993. Watching the franchise’s 5th iteration, you get a sense
that “white privilege” is not just a concept in the real world. It exists too in the
fictional world of movies.

Seeing how vehemently opposed the West is to nuclear proliferation and the
development of other weapons of mass destruction in the real world, you wonder
how come in movie world, they seem so blasé about the constant genetic tinkering
rich white folk are constantly engaged in the Jurassic Park franchise. When you
recall white privilege, it all then makes sense even though it does not quite make
sense.

In Lost World, Jeff Golblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm uttered the very instructive line
“Taking dinosaurs off this island is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad
ideas”.

Given the utter destruction each installment in the franchise has inflicted on the
world, you would think by now there would have been a move along the lines of
the Sokova Accords to rein in the genetic tinkering inclinations of White Anglo
Saxon Protestant Billionaires who are always playing God.

Five movies into the franchise and it would seem the world has still not learnt its
lesson. In Fallen Kingdom, it has been 3 years since the tragic events of 2015’s
franchise reboot, Jurassic World.

As is to be expected, Fallen Kingdom opens with an underwater expedition to

retrieve a sample from the remains of Indominus Rex from Jurassic World. In
keeping with Murphy’s Law, the expedition goes tragically awry albeit the
retrieval of the sample was successfully done.

At a Senate hearing in which Dr. Malcolm is testifying, we learn that Mother

Nature is about to re-enact (albeit on a less grand scale) the event of 65 million
years ago which led to the extinction of dinosaurs.
This time, instead of a meteor shower from outer space, Mother Nature has opted
for a volcanic eruption on the island of Isla Nublar where the remaining population
of genetically-engineered dinosaurs are safely quarantined

But mankind (read white people) would not be a confirmed dumbosaurus if some
moral dilemma is not introduced into Mother Nature’s expedient solution to
mankind’s stupidity in resurrecting an extinct deadly specie in the first place.

The moral conundrum of whether or not to let the impending volcanic eruption
bring an end to the Age of resurrected dinosaurs or whether to rescue them out of
some moral obligation takes hold, and forms the premise of Fallen Kingdom.

Returning to reprise their characters from Jurassic World, the services of Owen
Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are engaged to
assist a mercenary mission to Isla Nublar to rescue the dinosaurs before the
volcano erupts. But, of course, that’s just the half of it. Something else more
sinister and less noble is afoot.

While Jurassic World provided us with the misadventure of parlaying genetically–

engineered dinousaurs into a theme park, Fallen Kingdom provides us with the
misadventure of weaponising genetically-engineered dinosaurs.

This is where the movie’s idea of weaponised dinosaurs becoming a commercially-

lucrative choice of debauchery for mostly rich white people proves ludicrous.

Granted mankind (from our antecedents ) is a few strands of DNA short of a

dinosaur’s naturally-inclined feral savagery but the very idea that with all the
possibilities for savage self-destruction that mankind could possibly engage in with
the advanced technology available to us in this day and age, weaponising dinosaurs
just screams implausible.

For a rebooted franchise riding on old glory, the one area in which Fallen Kingdom
truly excelled is in the ultra-realism of its special effects. The last 2 installments in
the franchise have clearly upped the ante in special effects from the equally
impressive effects Spielberg achieved in Jurassic Park.
But hard as it tried and impressive special effects notwithstanding, at its very heart,
Fallen Kingdom lacked sufficient blood to pump the oxygen required to achieve an
emotional investment in its story.

Owen and Claire’s on-again and off-again relationship or hints at it lacked the
magic or at least the pull it achieved in Jurassic World. Ted Levine’s villainous
mercenary, whilst mildly engaging, was as stand-out as a park ranger’s khaki
uniform in a safari. Even the obligatory child character meant to heighten suspense
when in danger and tug at heartstrings seemed to take a deep on the cute-o-meter
the minute her genetically engineered origin was disclosed.

Given the utterly incomprehensible level of stupidity that has seen man repeating
the same deadly mistakes tinkering with genetically engineered dinosaurs in the
franchise, this installment should have been aptly named Jurassic World: Folly of
Man.

Fallen Kingdom felt a theme-park ride after multiple rides. Sure enough the
excitement was still there but the thrill of it having waned with successive rides; it
fills you more with ennui than adrenalin high.